New pro-independence political party launched in New Caledonia

New Caledonia's newly launched Labour Party says it wants the 1998 Noumea accord on greater autonomy to be fully implemented.

It held an inaugural weekend congress but has no political bureau or president.

The new union-backed pro-independence Labour Party is pitted against the main anti-independence Future Together and Rassemblement-UMP party.

Its spokesperson, Pierre Chauvat, says the new party has a number of objectives, among them independence from France.

"We demand the full application of the accord of Noumea. [We demand] to apply the United Nations resolution towards the Kanak, which is not the case. We need to redistribute the country's growth towards the population."

Pierre Chauvat says there is a need for the new party, as the main opposition pro-independence FLNKS is not doing its job.